Crest Thrust

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AntonT
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Good day Almosters,

It's good to go back to desert drives after a vacation. I am sure that not only I was excited about the long-awaited opening of the new season.

Having gathered not far from Al Faqa after a short briefing, we immediately moved into the desert in search of the crests @giorgio had prepared for us. Oh, yes, there were enough dunes to ask myself more than once, "can I climb to this height?"! Great experience, more such challenges!

I must admit the break in training affected a number of situations.
It took a while to remember how distance is essential for creating a gap for acceleration and avoiding aborts. It is also important to note how losing concentration instantly leads to errors.

Thanks to everyone, organizers and support team, for arranging the drive and your patience))!
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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

after the morning drive, it was now time to have fun in Al Faqa!

This area is so great for all kind of levels, but I keep on asking myself; how the heck do these marshals get to entertain this variety. One poorly tuned turn and you can end in a sticky situation.
Therefore, well done, really nice to see this level which makes our club stand out for sure!

The drive itself was nice, with here and there a stuck car or a second try. Let's not forget a pop-out out of nowhere. Anyway, good times!
At the near end of the drive, it became really interesting and I had real load of fun on those small dunes.

Thanks everyone and see you next week hopefully!

Tom
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galindakis
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Hi all!

It was long time since last sand drive for me due to summer break. Anyway I was super excited because following wise advice of @Shamsi @Barish and @Rashidjass, I have changed tires on Tuesday in order to prepare the upcoming season. I cannot be more grateful of all the advice this experience guys give us all the time. I feel I’m learning all the time and I really like it. Thanks.
We meet in Al Faqua area, where @giorgio had prepare a super fun track to clean the rust on our skills. This drive really helped me understand and exercised my skills for the upcoming side cresting, so again thanks.
I got stuck twice due to lack of momentum and the convoy suffered also a pop out that we fixed in 5 min.

Looking forward to all the upcoming drives and mods I’m preparing for my car. I hope my cycling calendar allows me to keep up this pace.

Best and see you in the sand!!!
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giorgio
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Crest Thrust 10+ level

After the summer break it was nice to see our members returning to the sand hungry for action.
With the weather still being on the hot side this afternoon drive was a low intensity drive focusing on welcoming back the members from their long break.

The drive started with a prolonged warm up before the level get increased slightly to present some rescue scenarios and a pop out

The convoy had to negotiate moderate high arches, and straight climbs with some technical driving in small dunes at the end

Over all we had moderate delays with the luck of distance and communication gaps being the areas for improvement

@brett on the second lead and @Tom at the end of the convoy while @alshamsi_m was on the floating marshal duty we completed the drive successfully with no surprises

I hope that all drivers got to enjoy the drive and I am looking forward to seeing you all again in the upcoming drives.
This coming season looks very promising with new games and challenges that will add value to our off-road training, so stay tunes grab your seat and lets have some fun
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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brett
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Dear Almosters,

What a fantastic afternoon of fun in Al Faqa

I arrived early - apologies for disturbing the morning drivers at their resting spot. @Tomvanhouten @alshamsi_m

While we waited for everyone to gather at the actual pin drop point I casually mentioned that with @Giorgio as lead I would surely not be appointed 2nd lead ! 2 yellow FJ's at the front might cause confusion for the following convoy !! pacman of course I could not have been more wrong - during the briefing my name was duly called to assume 2nd lead (a role I thoroughly enjoy) in hindsight of course there would be little chance of anyone mistaking my driving for that of the "Master" @giorgio so off we headed with the wasp swarm up front being chased by the egar convoy. @Tomvanhouten in the unenviable role of sweeper, @mpodroid, @osman mixed up in the middle to render assistance when required and the ever present @alshamsi_m floating and giving encouragement and instructions.

As is currently becoming the norm these days I had one incident of becoming crested and needing the assistance of @mpodroid to dislodge me before successfully completing the crest on a second attempt. this particular crest proved a challenge for almost every driver. @mpodroid managed it first try - but he had been up to it several times to recover the hapless ones so he knew the exact approach.

@giorgio managed to pick a perfect track to challenge everyone in the convoy to just the right level steep climbs, arches and toward the end some very trying technical areas.

It was also something of a watershed moment for me as for the first time ever in my FJ I experienced a popout after 1.5yrs driving in the desert. A huge thank you to everyone who pitched in to fix it in the quickest possible time - how did I manage the popout ? I have no idea as it was not a particular difficult section, but I think I managed to hit a small bush hump at the wrong angle and bingo ! popout.

Thanks to @nidal78 and @mpodroid from the media crew for capturing the drive. @nidal78 credit to you for bringing that big red GMC into those technical areas.

For sure i will miss naming some of the drivers but thank you all for making the drive a fun event
@galindakis @Martin @anton @theDanutz and others

looking forward to the winter season and the challenges ahead
Last edited by brett on Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Until the next Adventure

Brett
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theDanutz
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Dear Almosters,

Crest Thrust was for me a very nice re-join with the desert after Eggs in basket adventure more than 2 months back. Thank you @giorgio and team for organizing it for us.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and while summer heat still with us here, the drive was very pleasant and good paced. Very good lines chosen, hard enough to test my level and smooth enough to gain confidence in my skills. Very fine line and I truly appreciate the experience!!

I also did some second tries on very nice spots, some mistakes as well, which I live and learn from and get ready for the future. It is amazing the patience and the help you get form everyone, right from leading Marshal to support team and fellow drivers.

My key takes away from this drive:
  • maintain contact with the car in front (it happened to me to lose sight completely) and many thanks to @mpodroid for stepping in and rejoining the convoy
  • do not change track looking for the shortcut, thanks @giorgio for lesson learned to re-do the track
yaeh am not durnk
  • keep staying focused
The drive ended with a very nice area on smaller dunes, smooth lines and flow, which gave me opportunity to gain confidence in riding these dunes.

Thank you @giorgio for an excellent trip and grateful to you @alshamsi for being our guardian angel ..everywhere present!

Looking forward to next trips!

Best regards,
Danutz
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Martin
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On the return of many of the club from Salalah, this drive is said to mark the new season. Well if this is the beginning then hopefully we are all in for a great 2022 winter of drives.

Everyone arrived on time and was ready to go at the set schedule apart from a couple of unfortunate last minute cancellations.

A very efficient briefing from @giorgio explained the plan for the day. We then set off with lead by the beginning of a swarm of wasps with @giorgio leading and @brett in second lead both driving beautiful yellow FJs buzzzzzz.

Keeping us safe in the convoy was @mpodroid near the front, @osman in the middle with @Tomvanhouten sweeping at the rear.

We were lucky enough to also have the roaming watchful eye of @alshamsi_m, who always seemed to be in view. I swear that guy is teleporting all overt the desert. There was even a couple of opportunities to follow his track when he joined the convoy to pick up some tips and tricks by watching his technique.

I now feel like I have driven ever inch of the Al Faqaa area but I really don’t care as I totally love it and it never seems to fail at throwing up several new challenges. @giorgio provided a great balance of fun, challenging and technical areas. I had a good number of second tries but in most cases was able to feel the momentum slipping away so I could easily turn down and make my second attempt. Luckily this time I avoided getting stuck or having a pop out so hopefully this is progress.

Looking forward to the rest of the season and gaining more experience to move up the ladder to aim for the next level.
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alshamsi_m
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Hello Everyone

It is my first drive after Salalah and it was good to be back. Since we had 10+ I was trying to use 2H in some areas to have sand fountains to scrab the mud I had from Salalah.

Our leading marshal @giorgio gave us a very good wake-up drive for the rusty members. I was surprised to find that the day finished and we had to head back home.

I could feel the camping season coming soon and looking forward to see you all around the fire.

Till then stay safe
Shamsi
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